Abstract

Glaucoma is well recognized but often misunderstood by the medical and lay communities. The National Eye Institute estimates that 2.2 million Americans older than 40 years of age have been diagnosed with glaucoma and that another 2 million do not know that they have the disease. This underscores a major problem in diagnosis and treatment, in that patients with the most common form (ie, primary open angle glaucoma) are typically asymptomatic until the disease progresses to an advanced stage. Early diagnosis on the basis of a routine eye examination remains the best method of preventing visual loss. Finding ways to educate both the general public and health care providers about the nature of glaucoma and the need for periodic examinations is essential to achieving this goal.